


Strategic Daydreaming

by Yrindor



Series: The Cost of Genius [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Geniuses, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-28
Updated: 2015-05-28
Packaged: 2018-04-01 15:54:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4025866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yrindor/pseuds/Yrindor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one knows the real reason Shikamaru spends so much time daydreaming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strategic Daydreaming

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for the Fourth Shinobi World War.
> 
> All characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Nara Shikamaru sat on the roof of his apartment, watching the clouds drift by and half-listening to the conversations floating up from the street. As always, he heard a couple of those who thought he was a disgrace, who thought he wasn’t “living up to his full potential” to use the phrase he hated. According to them, he tarnished the reputation of ninja everywhere by deeming everything troublesome and declaring himself the “self-proclaimed master of running away.”

What they didn’t know was that his seeming laziness was actually a carefully crafted form of self-preservation. Those who simply followed orders could never understand the strain that running his mind at full capacity put on him. Yes, he could come up with a brilliant plan when the need arose, or command a team in an ever-changing situation, but it wasn’t sustainable. Using his full mental potential for just one day gave him a strange sort of whiplash that left him completely drained when he stopped. The one time he had had to sustain it for a week, he was utterly useless for the next few days. He hoped he never had cause to test it, but he suspected that he could last about a month before the strain broke him completely. Maybe there were geniuses who could sustain that sort of output over long periods, but he wasn’t one of them.

And then there was the emotional toll missions took on him. Every time something went wrong on a mission, every time someone was injured, or worse, he saw it as a flaw in his plan and thus his responsibility. He had very nearly quit after the first mission he led failed to save Sasuke and again after another failed mission left Asuma-sensei dead. The only reason he hadn’t quit then was his father reminding him that the missions would continue regardless of who was in charge. Shikamaru knew his skills saved lives overall, but he wasn’t sure how many more deaths, injuries, and failures he could take before they broke him.

Sometimes he wondered if those who were always nagging him to do more knew what they were asking. Did they realize they were essentially asking for a death sentence? Unless they wanted to be replacing their strategic commander for the second time in as many months, they’d have to put up with some cloud-watching and daydreaming. He’d let others take over the simpler tasks and save himself for when situations required it.

Shikamaru sighed. He had come up to the roof for daydreaming, not introspection. He’d be the genius everyone wanted the next time there was a crisis, but for the moment he’d just sit and watch the world drift by. Genius was far more tenuous and ephemeral than most people realized.


End file.
